1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a personal monitoring system for a user comprising a sensor for sensing an internal body parameter of the user and/or a sensor for sensing an ambient parameter of the ambience around the user, an earpiece for being worn at least in part in the user's ear canal including an acoustic output transducer for providing sound to the user's ear canal, an evaluation unit and a compliance control unit for providing the user with acoustic information regarding compliance of the sensed parameter with regulations. The invention further relates to a corresponding monitoring method.
2. Description of Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 6,661,901 B1 relates to an active hearing protection device comprising an earplug with a customized shell wherein, in addition to the outer microphone for sensing unattenuated ambient sound, the audio signal processing unit and the speaker adapted to provide sound signals to the user's ear canal, an inner microphone is provided which is adapted to sense the sound level prevailing within the user's ear canal when wearing the hearing protection earplug, i.e. the inner microphone is provided for in-situ measurement of the actual sound exposure experienced by the user's ear. The earplug includes a noise exposure dosimeter function, according to which a stationary or semi-stationary noise dose is obtained by A-weighing the signal provided by the inner microphone and accumulating the squared values. Peak values are obtained by C-weighing the signal of the inner microphone and saving the peak values. The noise dose and the peak values are compared to predetermined limits and, if the limits are exceeded, an audible information is given via the speaker included within the earplug, to the user in form of warning signals or synthetic speech.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,721,783 relates to a system comprising an earpiece to be worn in the user's ear canal which is adapted for wireless communication with a remote processor unit which may be worn under the user's clothing. The earpiece comprises a microphone for sensing ambient sounds, an audio signal processing unit and a speaker for providing sound signals to the user's ear canal. The remote processor unit may be connected to sensors and peripheral devices which may provide information regarding body temperature, heart pulse or blood sugar level of the user by measuring the corresponding parameters, wherein the information obtained thereby is provided to the user in the form of audio signals via the speaker of the earpiece, such as by synthetic speech. In addition, external sensors communicating with the remote processor unit may be used for obtaining user location information or for detecting nuclear, biological and chemical weapons or for detecting metal parts. The obtained information is provided to the user by appropriate verbal warnings or distinctive alerting tones generated by the remote processor unit and sent to the earpiece for perception as audio signals by the user.
It is an object of the invention to provide for a personal monitoring system for a user regarding internal body parameters of the user and/or parameters of the ambience to which the user is exposed, wherein the system should be particularly well adapted to the individual needs of the user and wherein the user should be provided with efficient feedback from the system regarding the monitoring results. It is a further object of the invention to provide for a corresponding personal monitoring method.